The Brotherhood's response has been twofold. It has refused to approve a badly needed loan from the International Monetary Fund to help boost Egypt's ailing economy, saying it cannot sign off on it without a clear government plan for how to use the money.

It also decided to field a candidate for Egypt's May 23-24 presidential elections, reneging on an earlier promise not to do so. In a surprise move, the group put forward businessman Khairat el-Shater, the Brotherhood's deputy leader, as their choice for the presidency.

The Brotherhood's actions have led many to believe that the group, emerging from some 60 years on the sidelines as an outlawed organization under Mubarak, was more interested in dominating the country than in an inclusive transition that lays the foundation for a democratic and free Egypt.

In an apparent response, Omar Suleiman, Mubark's former spy chief and vice president, decided to make a bid for the presidency, rattling the Brotherhood and others who see in his pitch an offense to the uprising that toppled Mubarak.

Parliament has responded by pushing for new legislation that would bar officials who worked in the last five years of Mubarak's rule from running for office.